My experience with Mr. Horstman and his birds left much to be desired. I ordered chicks from 7 different sources last spring, he was the first person I ordered from and I received his chicks last. I ordered early January and got the chicks in mid April after a couple delays.
I was told 4-6wks if I ordered that day and when that time had elapsed (late February) I emailed to inquire and the response was "I am planning on setting your eggs tomorrow".
After a couple weeks (mid-March) I decided to ask if he was indeed able to set the eggs and was told they would hatch on March 19th. On the 20th I was informed that my chicks would not be coming that day and that the next hatch date is April 2nd...which is my birthday and coincidentally a time that I spend out of state every year. I told him that doesn't work for me and a longer story shortened, received the birds April 20th.
Now, keep in mind that I'd been brooding chicks all spring by the time these came and I'd had no problems thus far. I'm one of the most paranoid people you'd meet about disease and I doubt most folks could even imagine how much of a chore it is to bring in new stock the way I did last year, especially in the winter. I take notes daily so that I might be able to diagnose if needed...or write in detail about certain ventures
Day 2 after receiving his chicks they started dying, sometimes 2 a day. Everyone's seen pasty butt but the ratio of chicks in this batch that experienced it was very high. I received 22 chicks of 2 separate breeds and when the deaths had stopped I watched them for a bit longer before noticing other issues and then decided to ask Mr. Horstman for assistance. I was sincerely looking for help because I had no recent experience with what was happening. Birds were all over the place in relation to size and a few were obviously not what I had ordered. He stated that the odd birds looked like mutts and that some of them could of been a week old when he sent them, which is something I frown on. He offered to replace any that died or weren't pure or to refund my money. At that point I wasn't at all concerned about any past monetary expenses, I was searching for a reason to not cull every one of them versus introducing them to the property. With all the possibilities of what could be wrong, I wasn't about to have more chicks sent. I didn't get the help I was searching for and I eventually put them on the ground but kept them isolated 3 acres away...talk about a PITA! Within a year I was down to 7 of his birds, but I should note that by then I'd become the quickest culler in the midwest. If a bird looked ill in any manner, especially in that flock, they were dealt with instantly. The mutts and one of the RIR's were the only birds to lay...in 11 months! Around that time frame one of the mutts developed diarrhea and that was the flame that lit my fuse because I decided to just cull them all. I obviously regret that I didn't cull them the first week...hindsight .
I will say that the Partridge Rocks that made it up until that point were very nice looking birds.
My last correspondence with him I left my phone number stating that if he felt this situation was deserving of a phone call to please feel welcome to call.
This was just my experience and I debated posting but I thought it unfair if I didn't. A simple phone call could of made all the difference.
